Have you ever experienced working for hours on a single project, sweating gallons over it only to find yourself crying at the end because your desktop computer or laptop suddenly went blank? Prevention is always better than cure folks, so if you are working on something really important, it is a must to back up your files to avoid starting from scratch. How do you do this? Well, read on and you might just learn where to find online computer help and know how to back up files on your computer.

These are some things that you could do when working with electronic files;

* If you have only one hard drive, the most basic thing you can do is have two partitions on it. Then store your files on the drive that does not contain the operating system files. For example, if you have drives "C" and "D" and your OS files are in drive "C", save your work on drive "D". Doing such would make it easier for you to retrieve your files in case your computer crashes down and needs to be reformatted or repaired. The other drive and the files in it would be untouched because only the drive with the operating system would have to be reformatted, repaired, or deleted.

* Get an account online where you can safely store some of your backup files, much like an electronic storage facility like Google Documents. Attaching the file to an e-mail account will also do. Then, check the site's privacy and security settings to make sure that your electronic files are safe from hackers and malwares. Also do some research, visit forums and find out if the site has a good reputation and does not give away its users' backup files to some other users online.

NOTE: Do not give your password to anyone otherwise; the purpose of backing up your files in your online account would be useless.

* If you aren't still contented after saving the file in one of your drives or in your online account, you could also burn a copy of your backup files to a disk. In this way, if your hard drive crashes and both your partitions have been compromised, you would still have a copy of your files and you would not have to start from scratch. Note that having multiple copies of your backup files might also be helpful.

* Be a little paranoid. Try hard to think of all the possible unexpected things that could happen to the file or files while you are working on it or even after you saved it. Yes, a little paranoia might just save you a lot of energy and spare you from getting migraines. Think of a way you might prevent loosing your files. For example, turning on the "auto save" feature on the software you are using could be a big help in case of a possible blackout in your area. You could also ask for some online computer help to know more about this feature.